Why I Hate Shadowboards
Somehow shadowboards have become the badge of Lean. A shadowboard symbolizes 5S to many. It is hard to find a class on Lean that does not show a shadowboard on a slide describing workplace organization.
But I hate them. OK, hate is a little strong, and I don’t even dislike them everywhere. They are fine in tool rooms and maintenance shops. But in production areas, they represent waste, not efficiency. On the surface, they look good, but when you watch the flow around them, they are full of muda.
- It is hard to believe that all the tools in a process are needed at exactly the same point. Shadowboards add either walking or reaching to a process. Or they are not used during production, and simply create an extra step to put tools away at the end of the day.
- Shadowboards are almost invariably organized by size of the tool. Most processes aren’t designed to use tools in size order. Shadowboards, therefore, require decisions, which adds an unnecessary burden to an operator.
- Shadowboards are a pain to adjust. When a process changes, shadowboards don’t. The need to swap tool locations gets batched until there are several changes in the queue. Then they are all done at once.
- Shadowboards make tools hard to grab. They are not stored in a way that makes them easy to use immediately, so there is the grab-flip move that adds time and occasionally causes a tool to drop.
- Shadowboards are hard to put tools into. Not ‘brain surgery hard’, but ‘add a half second hard’. And that adds up over time. Think of all the times tools are grabbed in the course of a year and multiply that out by half a second each.
5 Comments
Steve · January 6, 2011 at 5:07 am
Good shadowboards are good, bad shadowboards are bad.
Easy.
Jeff Hajek · January 6, 2011 at 6:12 am
Steve,
Agreed, but I think many people fail to see the distinction. So they use shadowboards as the ‘go-to’ method of tool organization.
Thanks for the comment.
Jeff
Tim Z · December 17, 2010 at 10:14 am
Couldn’t agree more. You articulated what I explain on a regular basis with our operators. A couple comments I would add.
Tool shadows at the right point of use can be very helpful.
IMHO Magnets and Modular pipe/joint structures give some of the best flexibility in tool placement options.
Jeff Hajek · December 17, 2010 at 10:25 am
Tim,
I like shadows, just not the single location boards, nor the pegboard hooks. Too hard to get tools out.
Love the comment about magnets or the pipes. I am assuming you are talking about PVC type pipe. Easy to work with both, and really cheap.
I’ve also used ID card retractors as cheap tool balancers for small stuff–test circuits, pens, small screwdrivers, etc.
Velcro is also a great friend of locating tools at the point of use.
You’ve got me thinking–might be a good idea for a future article…
Thansk for the comment.
Jeff
Tim Z · December 17, 2010 at 10:49 am
Not PVC (although it could probably work for a number of things). Creform, NIS, Fastube & alternatives. It is easy to position and connect to stations already built out of it. Particularly with the joint that allows you to clamp to tube on one end and adjust the angle of a short open tube on the other. We’ve also built simple little desktop stands that essentially holster tools on the desktop instead of the normal; stuff it in a drawer and scatter it on your desk routine.
Our 5S cart is also armed with Velcro. Love the lightweight toolbalance idea. And would agree you could have a meaty and welcomed article on Tool 5S techniques/ideas.